Eyes on the Back of Your Head

Today we have Rob Clough’s review of Julia Wertz’s latest book, The Infinite Wait, a very funny book which probably hasn’t received enough attention. Here’s how he opens it:

In a sense, the heart of each of the three short stories in Julia Wertz’s memoir The Infinite Wait is the impact that discovering comics has had on her life. Ostensibly, the book is broken up into “Industry”, a chronological account of her life as seen through her job history; “The Infinite Wait”, her account of learning that she suffered from chronic systemic lupus; and “A Strange and Curious Place”, a love letter to the first public library she haunted as a child. While each story can be read as discrete narratives, the truth is that this book is a sort of recapitulation and revisitation of the themes and events she explored in her first three books (The Fart Party Volumes 1 & 2; Drinking At The Movies). There’s a deeper level of narrative, thematic and emotional complexity that becomes more apparent as one reads the book for a second time. Wertz doesn’t exactly disown her earlier works in this book, but she goes into detail as to why each of them makes her uncomfortable from her current perspective.

We are still continuing to add new contributions to our page of Spain Rodriguez tributes. Since Monday, Art Spiegelman, Gary Groth, Noah Van Sciver, and Sam Henderson have joined the ranks. We are still waiting on a few more, so don’t forget to check back in every now and again. We are also posting another short interview with Spain conducted by Gary in 2001, and regarding his then-unusual foray into the world of online comics.

Elsewhere:

—Speaking of comics that deserve more attention, Boing Boing has gathered a bunch of comics figures’ recommendations for best-of-the-year lists. I don’t agree with all of the choices, and think there are many titles that belong on those lists that didn’t make it, but still … there are a lot of decent or better comics coming out these days.

—Which leads us nicely to Ng Suat Tong’s review of Mattotti and Zentner’s Crackle of the Frost.

—Words Without Borders has a new webcomic from David B. and Hervé Tanquerelle.